Thadd Wilson sets world record

Oxnard's Thaddeus Wilson, shown in a training session, set a world record for the 100 meter hurdles for the men's 60-64 age group at the national masters track and field championships in Cleveland on Friday.

Thaddeus Wilson

If the soreness is gone from his left hamstring Sunday, Thaddeus Wilson will go ahead with an attempt to set a world age group record at the USA Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Cleveland.

At the very least, the 60-year-old Oxnard resident will come home with two gold medals.

And a world record performance.

The multi-national champion bettered a nine-year-old 100 low hurdles world record Friday in the men's 60-64 age division with a winning time of 14.37 seconds. Guido Muller of Germany had owned the record since 2002 with a time of 14.42.

Representing the Pacific Coast Track Club, Wilson also won that age division's long jump title, bringing his career total of outdoor national championships to 12.

While the win in the 100 hurdles was not unexpected — Wilson extended his streak of titles in the race to six — becoming an age-group world record holder was.

In moving to the top of the all-time list, Wilson shaved .41 of a second off of his winning performance at the World Masters Championships in Sacramento earlier in the month. At that meet, Wilson also won the 300 hurdles, placed second in the 100 and fourth in the long jump.

"I was locked in," he said. "I had a real good start. It was smooth throughout the race."

In what has become a template of his races this summer, nobody was close enough to challenge him to the finish line. The runner-up was more than two seconds behind.

"I've been running against myself most of the year," Wilson said. "Pretty much after the first or second hurdle, I don't see anybody close.

"There hasn't been a race concerned about a threat. Even at the World Championships, there was only one or two that was on the radar."

Wilson has quickly adapted two changes in the event that come when one graduates from the 55-59 to 60-64 division: The height of the hurdles is lowered from 36 to 33 inches and the distance between the start and first hurdle is one meter longer.

He arrived in Cleveland believing that his best chance for a world record would come in the 300 hurdles.

"I thought I had a chance for it in Sacramento," said Wilson. "I felt that I was one world record pace. People told me that on hurdle No. 6, I took it with my opposite foot."

His timing off, Wilson staggered to regain his form. While still victorious, he had lost time that he couldn't make up.

Another shot at a record in the 300 hurdles could have been lost when Wilson strained his left hamstring in a qualifying race in the 100-meter dash.

Since turning 60 last December, Wilson embarked on his first true training schedule ("I stayed with it about 80 percent of the time," he said) and began eating healther.